republicans who said look. we ought to get this done for the middle class. i think obama was saying to boehner look, i don t need to give that. $700 billion just for getting the middle class tax through. just for that. yeah. this is what he told his members in the congress. because of stories like this, that can paint the picture to the voters that obama s not playing ball. trying to explain this to somebody from pluto. say in australia now. saying when congress wrote the cliff, defined it, spend cuts, increases on income, tax increase on state. they wrote it up as this horrible thing that nobody would want to face. either side, right? they designed it that way. now they re walking right over that cliff. over niagra falls. explain. it s like congress is on pluto and we re all on earth. they say they want deficit reduction. if you go over the cliff, you get deficit reduction, you just don t get it in the responsible,
name it. they put it all together. and if they blow it, who s going to get hurt the most? well, i think the republicans right now are hammering themselves in the foot over and over and over again. at some point they may figure out how to stop doing that. but in the short-term doesn t look like that s happening. i think the low expectations right now are only helpful to them if they can get a deal done. it s not clear that can happen. they may even fall short of these low expectations they ve had for two years now essentially both sides the white house and the congress advocating their way of getting it done. the barrel they re riding in them, the dysfunction around them. house republicans have walked away. i was there at the house conference meeting when he says we re not having a vote on plan b. we re in this horrible standpoint right now. asking harry reid to ask and president obama to act. harry reid s his lifeline. let me ask you this. everybody watches politics.
accountable way. it s like chopping off on arm. like says i want a shower, i m going to niagra falls. they still can t get it done. we re dysfunctional. no other explanation. i think they can stop the roller coaster and make it go. they re doing a dance now because republicans don t want to do something to rates. obama wants to play hardball. but i think they ll have a different argument later in the year. i guess both believe it s better to go over the falls than cut a deal that s going to hurt them at home. tea party people don t respond to boehner or to cantor or mccarthy or any of them. somebody in the next tea party is going to be yelling from the back, you sold us out. i think that s why the tea party is never going to be functional. they don t really respond to getting things done. they respond to anger back home. i think 2014 democrats are also aware of these tax increases.
and i sat here and i once sat here while dick armey told me he was glad he couldn t be married to me. he s a grister, not an attractive or decent i don t have a dog in the fight i came on tv to talk about politics. i think he s a jerk, his wife came with him and she s a big jerk. i say a pox on all their houses. i m glad they re shooting at each other and not the rest of america. that s why i like you. by the way, i m only saying, i don t think he s a crook. the big point is, and joan s right about this. the freedom works is important to the tea party. we want matt kibbe back here. the group collapses, it s bad for the tea party, it s good for the people who don t like the tea party. i want them to get out of the way of government work. that s my number one concern. happy new year, i mean it. happy new year, chris. not sarcastically either.
is this the vetting process we ve got now? in other words, the president doesn t decide who to pick. he gets an idea, a hunch, puts their name out there and see how it rides. is that a good process? no. it s a particularly cruel process to everybody involved. we ve used the phrase borking. we ve gotten around to the notion we have to do this with supreme court justices because it s opposed for life. but until recently, the president was given the leeway that he gets to run his administration and his cabinet the way he wants. and the only reason that a nominee would be knocked back, if there is some question of gross ethical, legal, or moral constraints. and we re seeing this now again and again where these it s an overused word, but these picks are being politicized to everybody s detriment. i know. steve, you know, here s where i think it is unfair. going back to the 90s and going after a person s on the record comments about gays, it doesn t give a person any allowance for g